


Purification

by Telaryn



Category: Leverage
Genre: Abandonment, Gen, Kidnapping, Male-Female Friendship, Near Death Experience, Sacrifice, Torture
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-09-16
Updated: 2012-09-16
Packaged: 2017-11-14 09:21:19
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 690
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/513715
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Telaryn/pseuds/Telaryn
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Eliot & Sophie are kidnapped by a mark and released into the desert with only a canteen of water between them.  They face the probability that Nate and the others won't find them in time.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Purification

**Author's Note:**

> Written for Round 3 of Angst Bingo - prompt: heat stroke.

He’d insisted that she take the last of the water. Sophie tried to argue with him, but she was too weak by that point and Eliot was too stubborn. “You drink it or I pour it down your throat,” he’d said. The marks of his own heat sickness were already on him, but there was no softening of the determined glint in his eyes. Her own tear ducts ached as she took the canteen and made a show of draining it – but her survival instincts had already kicked in, and her body refused to give in to the threat of tears.

“We’re not going to make it, are we?” she asked, when she was finished, letting the fabric covered plastic container drop into her lap. They’d been double-crossed by the mark – taken in the middle of the job and stranded in the desert. _No comms, no idea where we are…and no way for the others to find us._ The only thing they’d been allowed was the single canteen of water.

Eliot studied her for a long moment. He reached up and gently pushed her hair behind her ear; Sophie felt her stomach twist into knots when she realized his hand was shaking. “As soon as the sun goes down, we’ll start for that larger rock formation I showed you,” he said. His voice sounded like tires on gravel – he swallowed, wincing when it brought him no relief. “There’s a better chance of a real cave, maybe a stream.”

Sophie sighed quietly. “That was a really encouraging way for you to avoid answering my question,” she said.

The hitter bowed his head briefly. When he looked up again, all the focus and fierce determination was gone from his eyes. “I’m not giving up, Sophie,” he said softly. “I’m going to keep you alive and safe until Nate and Hardison and Parker can find us. Talking about the odds is pointless.”

She believed him. There was no logic or reason behind it – just his calm insistence that he would protect her until his own strength and body gave out for good. _Okay then._ “Are we sure staying here is safe?” she asked, glancing overhead. The sun hadn’t reached its zenith yet, and already the shade they’d found was shrinking.

“Can’t be helped,” he said, shaking his head. “We can’t risk our strength on the possibility of something better out there. Not without water – not with the sun still up.”

Sophie moved as far over in the alcove as she could, whimpering as Eliot’s body came in contact with her over-heated flesh. “I’m sorry,” he murmured, shifting them around until she was in his arms. “I’m so sorry, Sophie.”

“Shh,” she said, covering his hands with her own. “You didn’t make this happen.” His skin was painfully hot to the touch, stretched too-tight over muscle and bone.

“How…” Her voice broke, but she recovered and forced herself to go on. “How sick are you, Eliot?”

“Sophie…” he began, but she shook her head – feeling the ache of unshed tears again.

“No – Eliot, please be straight with me,’ she begged. “Otherwise I’m just going to sit here imagining the worst.”

He was silent long enough that she half expected him to refuse. “Body temp’s 105 or 106,” he said finally. “Feels like somebody’s filled my hands and feet with lead, and it’s hard to focus. I just want to sleep…” He chuckled bitterly. “I’m already starting to see trails at the edges of my vision – hallucinations aren’t too far off.”

“You should have taken the last of the water,” she protested, but he kissed the back of her head.

“Wouldn’t have made a difference,” he confessed. “All I did was put you behind me instead of in front of me.” His hand twisted, and his fingers interlaced with hers. “You’re almost as hot as I am, and hiding here like this is just going to burn through whatever good the water did.”

“So we’re not going to make it,” she said quietly, feeling a numbness creep over her.

“No,” he admitted finally, and his voice was shaking when he said it. “Probably not.”


End file.
